Featured Research

from universities, journals, and other organizations

Learning to live on land: How some early plants overcame an evolutionary hurdle

Date:

September 22, 2010

Source:

American Journal of Botany

Summary:

Diversity of life would be impossible if the ancestors of modern plants had stayed in the water with their green algal cousins. Moving onto dry land required major changes to adapt to this new "hostile" environment, and helped change global climate and atmospheric conditions. By absorbing carbon while making food, and releasing oxygen, early plants shaped ecosystems into a more hospitable environment. New research suggests reasons for incorporating evolutionary/paleontological information into global carbon cycling models.

The diversity of life that can be seen in environments ranging from the rainforests of the Amazon to the spring blooms of the Mohave Desert is awe-inspiring. But this diversity would not be possible if the ancestors of modern plants had just stayed in the water with their green algal cousins.

Related Articles

Moving onto dry land required major lifestyle changes to adapt to this new "hostile" environment, and in turn helped change global climate and atmospheric conditions to conditions we recognize today. By absorbing carbon while making food, and releasing oxygen, early plants shaped ecosystems into a more hospitable environment, paving the way for animals to make a parallel journey onto land.

New research by Dr. Linda Graham and colleagues at the University of Wisconsin, Madison focuses on this transition and adaptive changes in the uptake of carbon-based compounds, such as sugars. This work, which is published in the September issue of the American Journal of Botany, suggests a basis for incorporating evolutionary/paleontological information into global carbon cycling models.

All plants descended from a group of ancestral green algae, whose modern representatives thrive in aqueous environments. The simplest of modern land plants -- several groups of bryophytes -- are the closest living relatives to the first plants to colonize land. By comparing green algae and bryophytes, Graham and her co-researchers obtained insight into the evolutionary hurdles that plants needed to overcome to transition successfully to life on land, and how early plants' success influenced carbon cycling.

The researchers quantified and compared growth responses to exogenously (externally) supplied sugars in two green algae, Cylindrocystis brebissoni and Mougeotia sp., and one peat moss species, Sphagnum compactum. They found that sugar/carbon uptake in peat moss was not restricted to the products of photosynthesis. Rather, addition of sugars to the growth media increased biomass by almost 40-fold. This ability to utilize sugars not only from photosynthesis but also from the environment is called mixotrophy, not previously thought to play a significant role in the growth of mosses. The two green algae also responded to external sugar, though less so than the peat moss.

This has far-ranging implications to global carbon cycling because previous work examining the response of mosses to carbon availability assumed that carbon dioxide was the only carbon source available to peat mosses and ancestral plants. The new results indicate that efforts to model global atmospheric and climate changes, both in the present and millions of years ago during the colonization of land, should take mixotrophic behavior of early diverging plants into account.

Graham and her co-researchers have enjoyed a cross-hemispheric partnership, from Wisconsin north to Canada and south to Chile, and look forward to comparing the biology of Northern and Southern hemisphere peat mosses. In particular, they would like to "explore in more depth the role of sugars in the establishment of ecologically important microbial symbioses, particularly nitrogen-fixing cyanobacteria living with peat mosses," explained Graham.

American Journal of Botany. "Learning to live on land: How some early plants overcame an evolutionary hurdle." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 22 September 2010. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/09/100915094346.htm>.

American Journal of Botany. (2010, September 22). Learning to live on land: How some early plants overcame an evolutionary hurdle. ScienceDaily. Retrieved March 3, 2015 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/09/100915094346.htm

American Journal of Botany. "Learning to live on land: How some early plants overcame an evolutionary hurdle." ScienceDaily. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/09/100915094346.htm (accessed March 3, 2015).

More From ScienceDaily

More Plants & Animals News

Featured Research

Mar. 3, 2015 — Researchers have developed a new way of rapidly screening yeasts that could help produce more sustainable biofuels. The new technique could also be a boon in the search for new ways of deriving ... full story

Mar. 3, 2015 — For almost a century, scientists have been puzzled by a process that is crucial to much of the life in Earth's oceans: Why does calcium carbonate, the tough material of seashells and corals, ... full story

Mar. 3, 2015 — Rather than just waiting patiently for any pollinator that comes their way to start the next generation of seeds, some plants appear to recognize the best suitors and 'turn on' to increase the chance ... full story

Mar. 3, 2015 — Two of the four known groups of human AIDS viruses (HIV-1 groups O and P) have originated in western lowland gorillas, according to new research. The scientists conducted a comprehensive survey of ... full story

Mar. 3, 2015 — Methane emissions are strongly reduced in lakes with anoxic bottom waters. But – contrary to what has previously been assumed – methane removal is not always due to archaea or anaerobic bacteria. ... full story

Mar. 2, 2015 — For the first time, researchers have produced a 3-D image revealing part of the inner structure of an intact, infectious virus, using a unique X-ray laser. The virus, called Mimivirus, is in a ... full story

Mar. 2, 2015 — In the first study of its kind since the 1920s, rats in New York City were found to carry a flea species capable of transmitting plague pathogens. Among them: 500-plus Oriental rat fleas, notorious ... full story

Mar. 2, 2015 — What do a human colon, septic tank, copper nanoparticles and zebrafish have in common? They were the key components used by researchers to study the impact copper nanoparticles, which are found in ... full story

Featured Videos

Rare Goblin Shark Found in Australia

AFP (Mar. 3, 2015) — A goblin shark, a rare sea creature described as an &apos;alien of the deep&apos; is found off Australia and delivered to the Australian Museum in Sydney. Duration: 01:25
Video provided by AFP

Zookeepers Copy Animal Poses In Hilarious Viral Photos

Buzz60 (Mar. 2, 2015) — Zookeepers at the Symbio Wildlife Park in Helensburgh, Australia decided to take some of their favorite animal photos and recreate them by posing just like the animals. Jen Markham (@jenmarkham) has the story.
Video provided by Buzz60

Apr. 19, 2013 — A new global-scale modeling study that takes into account nitrogen -- a key nutrient for plants -- estimates that carbon emissions from human activities on land were 40 percent higher in the 1990s ... full story

Feb. 1, 2012 — New research reveals how the arrival of the first plants 470 million years ago triggered a series of ice ages. The research reveals the effects that the first land plants had on the climate during ... full story

June 9, 2011 — Controlling water loss is an important ability for modern land plants as it helps them thrive in changing environments. New research shows that water conserving innovations occurred very early in ... full story

May 3, 2010 — Trees and other plants help keep the planet cool, but rising levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere are turning down this global air conditioner. According to a new study, in some regions more ... full story

ScienceDaily features breaking news and videos about the latest discoveries in health, technology, the environment, and more -- from major news services and leading universities, scientific journals, and research organizations.